Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Managing Food Safety Risks with Mushrooms
80 Plays8 months ago
In this episode, Produce Safety Technicians Micah Hutchison and Landen Tetil discuss how to reduce food safety risks when it comes to growing mushrooms. They also talk through regulations that growers should be aware of when processing mushrooms.
Additional Resources:
Food-Safe Fungi: Produce Safety Resources for Mushroom Growers
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Agri-Food Safety Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the Agri-Food Safety Produce Bites podcast, where we discuss all things produce safety and dive into the rules and regulations surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule.
Meet the Produce Safety Technicians
00:00:12
Speaker
My name is Micah Hutchison. I'm a produce safety technician at the Genesee Conservation District, and I work with growers on the implementation of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule in Southeast Michigan.
00:00:25
Speaker
And I'm Landon Teedle. I am also a produce safety technician working with farms across Michigan's Upper Peninsula located out of the Marquette County Conservation District and just working to make the UPE food system a safer place to eat.
Are Mushrooms Considered Produce Under FSMA?
00:00:41
Speaker
Let's talk about mushrooms. Mushrooms. So first of all, let's put mushrooms in a box. Let's put them in a category. They don't grow on like a regular sort of plant like most produce. No, they're not plants, correct? They're a whole different kingdom? Yeah, they're fungi.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, they're the fun guys. So fun. So fun that we're talking about them today. Yeah. But for the purposes of the FSMA, produce safety rule, mushrooms are in fact a produce.
Microbial Concerns in Mushroom Farming
00:01:16
Speaker
So what are we worried about with mushrooms? Why are mushrooms, why do they kind of feel singled out enough for a podcast?
00:01:24
Speaker
Well, I think that mushrooms are actually really unique from a food safety's perspective because when we grow mushrooms, we are inherently very concerned about microbes and bacteria and what is growing in and around the fungi that I'm growing on purpose, right? Because microbes have the distinct ability to ruin a mushroom crop.
00:01:54
Speaker
And so I feel like, and especially in indoor settings where things are, you've got a little bit more control over things, growers are like extremely aware of cleaning and sanitizing and making sure that
00:02:09
Speaker
The growing environment for their mushrooms is as sterile as possible to produce the best yield. If I don't, I'm not going to get that yield that I'm depending on. So I've always thought that since that was a concern with mushroom growers, that they're a little more aware of some of these post-harvest practices when it comes to sanitation.
00:02:32
Speaker
and knowledge about how bacteria grows, are we still worried about any produce outbreaks that we hear a lot about in mushroom operations? Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's always a risk. Risk is inherent with growing any kind of food. And so there's always that possibility. But I do think mushroom growers can utilize their advantage of already caring about the environment that
Handling Condensation in Mushroom Farms
00:03:01
Speaker
they are growing in.
00:03:02
Speaker
and their concern over harmful microbes, they can put that to use when applying all of the standards of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. I think a lot of times because they're thinking about food safety from their different perspective, from their more of like a farm management perspective,
00:03:24
Speaker
I think that sometimes they feel almost overwhelmed by the by the produce safety rule and they don't even want to think about it. And so one of my favorite things to do is to help growers make those connections of like, well, what you're doing is is food safety. You're just not thinking about it. You're not giving it that label.
00:03:44
Speaker
I talk a lot with the very few mushroom growers that I've worked with who are starting about the importance of keeping those food contact surfaces clean and the use of that, you know, forest up cleaning and sanitizing as part of that food contact surface everyday cleaning when they're growing. Yes. And that is something I like to emphasize too. And I think it's, it is especially important in
00:04:15
Speaker
indoor mushroom grow productions because mushrooms tend to get their required moisture through high humidity, and humidity often equals condensation. And we all know from a produce safety
Challenges with Listeria in Mushroom Cultivation
00:04:35
Speaker
perspective, condensation is a big no-no. Absolutely. Such a big no-no, in fact, that produce that has come into
00:04:44
Speaker
Contact with condensation is unsealable. Yes, and condensation kind of, it makes you think about food contact surfaces a little differently because if there's condensate on the ceiling. The ceiling's a food contact surface.
00:05:03
Speaker
It has to be clean and sanitized like a table, right? Yep. I also worry about the humidity because doesn't bacteria really like moist environments? Oh, they love it. Warm, dark, wet. That is, you know, bacteria need things to live just like me and you and those are the big ones.
00:05:28
Speaker
And, you know, some bacteria like Listeria doesn't necessarily need warmth. There was that Listeria outbreak in Inoki mushrooms, was it last year in 2023? Yeah, it was a big one. It was multiple states too. Listeria is a real bad one. I mean, all
00:05:48
Speaker
Human pathogens are bad, but Listeria especially is, like you said, Micah, it doesn't necessarily require warmth. It can even survive and grow in freezers, because we've heard about Listeria outbreaks in ice cream. Yep. And it's pretty sneaky. It's extremely persistent. And it, like once it's in a place, it's extremely hard to get rid of it.
00:06:14
Speaker
So it's like the roaches of the pathogens? Yeah. And I guess I should, I should clarify a little bit too, because it's, it's not that Listeria can't die. You know, if you spray it with a sanitizer, you are going to kill Listeria. Um, it's hard to kill and that it sort of just spreads everywhere. And so it's hard to get all of it. And so if you miss a tiny little spot, it's just going to grow and spread some more and you're going to still have Listeria.
00:06:45
Speaker
Linda,
Effective Cleaning Strategies for Mushroom Growers
00:06:46
Speaker
that's a good point to bring up because I think when we talk about this cleaning and sanitizing program and indoor operations like mushroom growing can be, when you are worried about your ceiling as a food contact surface and you know you have to clean it, people may turn to power sprayers. So you're hosing everything down with a power sprayer. You hit the floor in the drain if there's listeria in a drain.
00:07:15
Speaker
There's listeria everywhere. And it's hard to get rid of. If you are listening to this right now, you should go look up Phil Togo's fake blood splatter Halloween horror movie with a power washer that demonstrates exactly what Micah just said. So if we have something like listeria in a drain and it's hard to get rid of and it's sprayed everywhere, that can create a big problem for indoor grow operations like mushroom growers.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yes, and it's only made worse by the fact that we can't see these pathogens, right? We can't see that we're spreading it all around when we use a power washer, but it happens. And so while it may be unrealistic to actually treat the ceiling as a food contact surface, there has to be a different sort of management strategy if that's not the route we're gonna take.
00:08:13
Speaker
Cause I don't know many people who are actually cleaning and sanitizing their ceiling. You know, we're not here to tell people to do unrealistic things. We're here to help them find effective management strategies. Would you say an effective management strategy would be cleaning the ceiling every quarter? Sure. Yeah. Or like in, um, you know, like sort of like in between, in between rounds. So if you can have all of the product,
00:08:40
Speaker
harvested and out of there, so you're not worried about any of that. And then you're probably going to have to clean all of the racks or tables or other surfaces after you do that, if you're using a power sprayer. Yeah. So we talked about how humidity can cause condensation, which can cause surfaces that are typically not food contact surfaces to act as food contact surfaces.
00:09:10
Speaker
What other food contact surfaces are we concerned about? The thought for me is that packaging material, any harvest material, if it's different, any water used. Yes. Yeah. The water definitely. And I often see mushrooms being grown vertically, um, like on racks, like like sort of like storage racks. So like they're growing on shelves above each other. And so then those shelves to me,
00:09:40
Speaker
Are our foods, food contact surface of, um, cause they're, they're potential to have condensate drip on the crop below or spill from the top shelf. Anything that could get in there could definitely come down and touch those, the produce. Yeah. And for a lot of mushroom blooms, they're going to be big enough to where they're actually touching those racks too. So they're definitely a food contact surface. So it's a big priority.
00:10:09
Speaker
to keep those clean. What about like the outside of if someone is using like a grow bag, what about the outside of those? Like the plastic bags that substrate is stored in? Yeah, because I've seen mushrooms like touch the plastic of the substrate when they're blooming. Is that a food contact surface? Oh, for sure. Yeah. And I think a lot of times those
00:10:36
Speaker
The substrate will get bagged and then the entire thing will go through a sterilizer. But it's definitely a concern. I really wouldn't have thought as that substrate bag being a food contact surface. But if you're, say, growing oyster mushrooms in one of those bags, yeah, you have to worry about cleaning the outside of that bag of plastic. Yes.
Regulatory Shift: Mushrooms as Food vs. Produce
00:11:02
Speaker
So I've been noticing that mushroom growers have started to process their mushrooms. It seems like with increasing frequency in the last year, more and more mushroom products are available from small growers. Like if there are mushroom supplements in like a capsule, mushroom teas, dried mushrooms, mushroom powders. This is so interesting, Micah, and it
00:11:30
Speaker
It's almost like full circle back to that earlier conversation we had about like, are mushrooms produce and under the produce safety rule? Yes. But as soon as you process those mushrooms, they're not produce anymore. They move into the food category and food is not regulated under the produce safety rule. It is, it is regulated by something else.
00:11:57
Speaker
When a mushroom grower chooses to process their mushrooms, which is a great option, it's a great value-added product that they can produce and probably earn a higher profit margin on. But when a mushroom grower processes their mushrooms, what that means, at least legally, is that they are altering that mushroom
00:12:23
Speaker
beyond the state in which it was harvested. So that could mean slicing it, it could mean chopping it, grinding it, putting it in a capsule, putting it like making it into a drink powder, any of those things. So basically, if you are altering it, with the exception of you can dry them whole.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yes, that is something that farms can do. Dry mushrooms whole, but the minute a farm slices, even before drying it, it's under processing. Right, and that requires a processing license. Yes, through MDARD. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Advice for Mushroom Growers on Food Safety
00:13:06
Speaker
What's our bottom line here, Micah? Let's wrap it up for
00:13:10
Speaker
folks here. I feel like the bottom line is so the same across the board. Assess your risks, look at your growing operation, see where contamination could be introduced, implement a four-step cleaning and sanitizing practice on like a pretty regular schedule, and always kind of be aware of the level of cleanliness and any kind of growing packing storage
00:13:39
Speaker
processing room or even transportation. Oh, and wash your hands all of the time. Wash your hands. I think that the fact that mushroom growers are so concerned with microbes to begin with is such a blessing and something they can use to their advantage and just making those connections that we're concerned about microbes
00:14:03
Speaker
beyond what could harm the yield and move it into that foodborne pathogen realm as well. Links to anything referenced in this episode are provided in our show notes, which can be accessed on the website at canr.msu.edu slash agri-food underscore safety. Thank you to everyone for listening, and don't forget to tune in next month for another episode of our Produce Bites podcast.